NEW YORK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th December, 2021) Shares of iPhone maker and consumer tech giant Apple hit record highs on Monday, reaching nearly $3 trillion in market capitalization, trading data showed.
Apple's stock hit a lifetime high of $182.09 to briefly touch a market value of $2.98 trillion, data from New York's Nasdaq platform for Big Tech stocks showed.
Responding to the rally, J.P Morgan analyst Samik Chatterjee raised his target for Apple to $210 from $180 and reiterated his call for investors to "overweight" the stock.
Already the world's most valuable company, Apple could be on track to hit $4 trillion in market capitalization next, Craig Erlam, analyst at online stock trading service OANDA, said.
"Apple is closing in on a $3 trillion market cap in what would be another landmark moment for the company, coming a little over a year after hitting $2 trillion and three years after $1 trillion," Erlam said. "It really is an incredible achievement and just begs the question, how long until it hits $4 trillion?"
Erlam said while Apple has had its doubters over the years, particularly on the innovation side after the death of its legendary founder Steve Jobs, the company under decade-long CEO Tim Cook "appears to be ticking all the boxes at the moment."
"They have a fantastic product lineup and so much to offer in the coming years," he added.
J.P Morgan analyst Chatterjee said Apple's upcoming iPhone SE 5G has potential to attract nearly 1.4 billion low- to mid-end Android users and about 300 million users of older iPhone models.
